


Enchantment

by AgentStannerShipper



Series: tumblr ficlets [62]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Arthurian AU, F/F, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-23 01:06:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18539185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentStannerShipper/pseuds/AgentStannerShipper
Summary: Lady Lancelot pays Olivia a visit.





	Enchantment

**Author's Note:**

> Day nine was "magic."

When Olivia opened the tower door and saw who stood on the other side, she wondered briefly if Merlin had been lying about his lack of prophecy, and if he had chosen that afternoon to leave the tower in her hands while he went off to visit his lover with this express purpose in mind.

“Lady Lancelot,” she stammered. “We weren’t expecting you.”

Roxanne tilted her head, her eyes sparkling. “I apologize for turning up unannounced. I’m running an errand for a friend, and he said Merlin’s tower would be the best place to go. This is Merlin’s tower, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Olivia said quickly, stepping back to allow the knight over the threshold. “You’ve come to the right place. Although I’m afraid Merlin isn’t in right now, and I don’t expect him back for some time.” The next day at the minimum, if Merlin was indeed visiting Galahad.

“That’s alright,” Roxanne said, following her inside. Her boots clanked a bit against the stone floor, rattling in time with her chain shirt. “You’re his apprentice, I presume? Vivian?”

“Olivia,” she corrected. It was a common mistake. “And yes, I am.”

“If you can do magic even half as well as Merlin can, then I’m sure you can help me.”

“Of course,” Olivia said. “Anything for you.” She resisted the urge to swallow her slipper.

Fortunately, Roxanne merely seemed amused. She withdrew a scrap of parchment from a pouch at her waist. “I assume you know your letters?”

Olivia nodded. Merlin had taught them to her and Galahad at the same time, when she had been very young. She took the paper and scanned it. The handwriting was familiar; Galahad’s shaky lettering scrawled across the page. Perhaps not foresight on Merlin’s behalf then, but a carefully laid plan. She didn’t know whether to admonish her father or thank him.

“I can’t read it myself,” Roxanne admitted after a moment. She blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “My parents thought it unladylike, and I never had someone who could teach me in secret.”

“I could teach you,” Olivia volunteered without thinking. She blushed as well. “If you are still interested, of course. I know knights must have more important things to do with their time. Slaying dragons…”

“Rescuing damsels.” Roxanne tilted her head again, and her smile made Olivia’s heart flutter. “I would very much like to study with you. If you have the time.”

“I would not have offered if I didn’t.” Olivia clutched the parchment a little tighter. “I’ll just…make this up for you, shall I?” It wasn’t even magical. Galahad had essentially asked her to make him a special blend of tea. Merlin could have put it together, and it only added to her inclination that this whole thing was a scheme on their parts.

As she turned her back on Roxanne, she heard the knight moving around the entry hall with care. “Nothing down here can hurt you,” Olivia called over her shoulder. “Everything magical is upstairs.”

“Except for you, of course.”

Olivia’s blush deepened, and she was glad that sorting through the pantry meant Roxanne could not see her face. “Except for me,” she mumbled.

“Forgive me if I’m being too bold,” Roxanne said, and Olivia tensed, “but how did you know my name? I don’t believe we’ve ever met.”

There was silence, save for Roxanne’s soft clinking and the rustle as Olivia sorted herbs into a cloth bag. She tied it off and then turned back to Roxanne. “No. We haven’t met. But I’ve seen you, occasionally. When Merlin is scrying. He and Galahad both speak very highly of you.”

“I see.” Roxanne accept the pouch from Olivia and reached for her purse, but Olivia shook her head.

“For Galahad, you owe me nothing.” She offered half a smile. “A deal which he shamelessly exploits.”

Roxanne laughed. “That sounds like him. From my understanding, he and the wizard are quite…intimate.”

“That is what you might call an open secret,” Olivia confirmed.

Roxanne twisted the bag in her hands and then attached it to her belt. When she was satisfied it was secure, she said, “I really ought to be going.” But she made no move towards the door.

“If you have somewhere to be,” Olivia agreed, but she made no move either. There was a crackling tension in the air, and it tasted like her magic, but different in some indescribable way.

Roxanne nodded. “As you said. Dragons to slay…”

“Damsels to rescue.”

“Precisely.” They were both quiet for another moment, and then Roxanne said, “Of course, if there’s anything I could rescue you from, I believe that would qualify. And since I’m here anyway…” She trailed off, and her smile was surprisingly shy.

Warmth spread through Olivia. “As it happens, I do believe I need rescuing from the terrible boredom of being here alone.”

“Then what sort of knight would I be if I left you here to face it alone?” Roxanne’s smile was all teeth now, and Olivia found herself matching it with a smaller one.

“No sort of knight at all,” she agreed. “I can even give you a lesson now, if you’d like. For your letters, I mean. We have all sorts of books upstairs.”

“Where the magic happens?” Roxanne teased, and the warmth inside Olivia burst into a shower of glowing sparks, so that the whole room felt warmer as well.

“Where the magic happens,” she echoed, and held out her hand. “Let me show you?”

Roxanne took it. “Lead the way.”


End file.
